Shot at 3rd Olympics lures Mark Ruiz back to diving board

June 18, 2008|By Andrea Adelson, Sentinel Staff Writer

Mark Ruiz is just another diver now, no longer the favorite, no longer the king of the board. Yet there he is at the pool, practicing twice a day, spending hundreds of dollars on gas to drive down to Miami to train, all so he can stop being just another diver and start being an Olympian again.

His decision to come out of retirement after three years away from the sport seems curious. Why even bother, considering his long odds of making it to Beijing?

Well, to Ruiz, what the outside world sees as long odds, he sees as a sliver of opportunity. When it comes to the Olympics, and winning that elusive medal, a sliver could turn into silver. Or even gold.

So Ruiz quit his job in Orlando as a sales representative for an auto parts company to train full-time. Then he made the decision to train with University of Miami Coach Randy Ableman five days a week, while his wife stayed here.

As the U.S. Olympic trials start this week in Indianapolis, Ruiz, 29, is hoping his hard work and a little bit of luck will land him one of two spots on the 3-meter springboard team.

"I'm definitely not the favorite this time around, but I definitely have a great chance at making it," said Ruiz, a graduate of Dr. Phillips. "I'm diving well. If I put it all together, I can potentially win."

That is a tall task. Two-time Olympian Troy Dumais still is diving and considered the favorite. Then there are up-and-comers Jevon Tarantino, Chris Colwill and Justin Wilcock. Terry Horner, who dived at Lyman and is at FSU, also is competing on the springboard.

Only the top finisher at trials is guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team. Those who finish 2-6 will compete at a selection camp July 2-6 for the second spot.

Considering Ruiz probably won't finish first, the selection camp could help him. But if he finishes second at the trials and then is left off the team, that wouldn't seem fair, either.

Fair or not, those are the rules, and Ruiz will take them because of that sliver of opportunity. He wants that medal around his neck. It is the only thing missing from his long rM-isumM-i. He had three chances in 2000 when he competed in the springboard, platform and synchronized dive. But a bad back left him outside the medal hunt.

Then in 2004, he failed to medal in synchro. His performance followed a disastrous outing at the trials, when he failed to qualify in his best event, the platform, after a spectacular crash during practice sent him reeling.

It took Ruiz a year to get over what happened at the trials and played a part in his decision to retire after Athens. He has not done a platform dive since then. He actually stayed away from the pool for three years until he decided to come out of retirement.

It took him five months to really feel like he was in diving shape. At the U.S. spring nationals in April, he finished 15th and failed to advance to the finals. That could happen again Friday, when the preliminaries in the springboard begin.

"He has a hard enough list of dives to be very competitive so he's doing some really big dives, and if he can put it all together, I think he has a chance," Ableman said. "He hasn't been in too many meets so it's really important he gets off to a good start."

If he does, who knows what can happen? But if he doesn't make the Olympics, the question always will follow him: Will there be a gaping hole in his career if he leaves without a medal?

"I've thought about it many times," Ruiz says. "I don't know how to answer that. Will I be happy regardless of that medal or not? Obviously. I've made two Olympics, I've medaled at just about every international meet and done some really neat things and been very successful at it.

"I guess it would kind of be like Charles Barkley then, huh? Achieving everything there is in the NBA but not winning that championship, right? No. I would be happy with my career. Because I know I gave it 100 percent out there. I have no regrets."